I would argue that dog training, by design, attracts neurodivergent people, particularly those with ADHD. Hyper-fixation, tons of movement, in the moment challenges and fast thinking. And if dog training becomes your career, you don’t have to sit at a desk all day! Novelty around every turn? It’s kind of ideal for a person who struggles to sit still and conform to a traditional work situation.
So, on the flip side, I’m guessing that if you’ve clicked on this video, you, like me, sometimes might also struggle with things like getting motivated to train, remembering what to train, remembering where the heck your clicker went (why is it in the fridge again?), and you may also struggle with maintaining behavior because training something new is more fun and much shinier and exciting! Meanwhile, you’ve got a trail of partially finished behaviors that you’ve forgot about for now.
So in this video we are going to talk about ways to approach some of the typical challenges people with ADHD encounter so that you can reach your training goals. I’m also going to discuss creating systems that work for your brain, not for everyone else’s.
While this video is based off of my personal experience as a dog trainer with ADHD, I think the tips here will be helpful for all people, because we can all struggle with things like motivation, organization, and training boredom at certain points in our dog training. So check it out and let me know what you think!